Most of us grow up with confusing messages about emotions. We’re told emotions are what make us human, that they define who we are—but also that we should control them, not let them rule us. We hear “I can’t help how I feel” and “Don’t be so emotional” in the same breath. No wonder so many people feel lost when it comes to managing their emotional lives.
Here’s a different way to think about it: Emotions are tools your brain and body use to motivate behavior. They’re not mysterious forces that descend upon you. They’re not the essence of who you are. They’re sophisticated programs that evolved over millions of years to help our ancestors survive and thrive. Understanding this doesn’t make emotions less real or less important—it gives you agency in working with them.
Think back to the horse, carriage, and driver metaphor from Level 1, Topic 6. Your emotions are the horse: powerful, energetic, and essential for getting anywhere. But here’s what emotion management is not: it’s not about wrestling the horse into submission, forcing it to go where you want through sheer strength of will. That approach leads to one of two outcomes, often both: either you lose the fight and the horse becomes more unruly and uncooperative, or you “win” but end up with an injured, unhealthy horse that can’t function properly.
Real emotion management is like learning to work with horses. It’s about understanding how they work, learning to communicate with them, caring for their needs so they stay healthy and happy. When you do this well, the horse wants to cooperate with you. You’re working together, each doing what you do best.
This topic will teach you the basics of how emotions work, why they sometimes seem to misfire in modern life, and practical techniques for working with them effectively. You’ll learn to treat emotions as valuable information and motivation while still making conscious choices about your actions. As we discussed in Level 1, Topic 4 (Internal Barriers), unmanaged emotions can become significant barriers to reaching your potential. This topic gives you the tools to overcome those barriers.
Emotions evolved to solve specific survival problems. Fear kept our ancestors alive when predators were near. Anger helped them defend resources and status. Disgust prevented them from eating spoiled food. Love and attachment kept parents caring for vulnerable infants and built cooperative groups. Sadness signaled loss and prompted help-seeking or withdrawal to conserve energy.
But emotions didn’t start with humans—they evolved in animals long before our species existed. Animals without our level of abstract intelligence relied on these quick, imprecise mechanisms to survive. A rabbit doesn’t analyze whether that shadow might be a hawk; it just bolts. A dog doesn’t reason through whether to defend its food; it just growls. These fuzzy logic heuristics—quick, approximate solutions—worked well enough, often enough, to keep animals alive and reproducing.
As humans, we inherited these same emotional systems, but we also developed something else: the capacity for abstract thought, language, and complex reasoning. We can learn about and understand how emotions work, how thinking works, how interpersonal relations and communities function. We can study the world in ways animals never could. And we’ve used that capacity to build amazingly large and complex social systems—cities, nations, global networks, intricate economies, digital communication.
Here’s the challenge: our emotions evolved for small groups of hunter-gatherers, but we now live in environments our emotional systems were never designed for. As far as your emotions are concerned, you’re living in an alien world. They’re still running programs optimized for avoiding predators and competing for status in a band of 50 people, while you’re navigating rush-hour traffic, workplace politics with hundreds of colleagues, and social media networks with thousands of connections.
But here’s the opportunity: we can use our understanding of how emotions and thinking work to deliberately build skills that help us succeed in these new environments. That’s what this topic—and all of Level 2—is about. We already get some of this training through conventional education: reading, math, history, science. This program is here to help round that out with skills for working with your emotions, thinking clearly, communicating effectively, and cooperating with others. And later, in Level 3, we’ll explore how to adapt our environments and systems to better suit how humans actually work, rather than always forcing ourselves to adapt to poorly designed systems.
Your brain and body create emotions through a complex system involving hormones, neurotransmitters, and nervous system responses. When your brain detects a trigger (consciously or unconsciously), it activates an emotional program. Your heart rate changes, stress hormones release, your facial expressions shift, your attention narrows or broadens. All of this happens to motivate a particular kind of action: run away, fight back, approach carefully, reach out for connection.
These responses are fast because speed mattered more than perfect accuracy when a rustling in the grass might be a snake. They’re approximate because “better safe than sorry” kept more of our ancestors alive than “wait and gather more data.”
These emotional programs worked remarkably well in the environments where they evolved. But modern life is radically different from ancestral environments, which means emotions increasingly require conscious evaluation rather than automatic action.
Fear evolved to respond to immediate physical threats—predators, dangerous terrain, hostile strangers. Today, your fear system activates just as strongly for public speaking, job interviews, or sending an important email. The physical response is the same (racing heart, sweaty palms, urge to flee), but the situation doesn’t actually threaten your survival.
Anger evolved to respond to direct threats to your resources, status, or safety—someone stealing your food, challenging your position in the group, or threatening your family. Today, it activates when someone cuts you off in traffic, when your internet connection drops during an important call, or when a colleague gets credit for your idea. The emotional program is trying to motivate confrontation or retaliation, but that response is often counterproductive.
Love and attachment evolved in small groups where you’d likely know everyone for life. Today, we navigate complex social worlds with hundreds of acquaintances, online connections, and shifting relationships. Our attachment systems can misfire, creating intense bonds with people who aren’t good for us or making it hard to form connections in healthy ways.
This doesn’t mean emotions are useless in modern life—far from it. Fear still alerts you to real dangers. Anger still signals when your boundaries are violated. Love still builds deep, meaningful relationships. But the emotional response is a starting point for evaluation, not an automatic instruction to follow. Your job is to understand what the emotion is trying to tell you, assess whether its suggestion fits the actual situation, and then choose your response.
One of the most liberating insights about emotions is this: they’re responses your brain produces, not who you are. When you feel anxious, you’re not “an anxious person”—you’re a person experiencing anxiety in response to a trigger. When you feel angry, you’re not “an angry person”—you’re experiencing an emotional program designed to motivate defense or confrontation.
This distinction matters because it creates space for choice. If emotions are who you are, then changing them means changing yourself, which feels impossible and threatening. But if emotions are tools your brain is using—tools you can learn to work with—then you can develop skill in managing them without losing yourself.
Understanding the mechanism doesn’t diminish the experience. Your emotions are still real, still powerful, still important sources of information and motivation. But understanding them as evolved programs rather than mysterious forces gives you the agency to work with them effectively, which is what the rest of this topic will teach you to do.
As we discussed in Level 1, Topic 6, the horse, carriage, and driver metaphor helps us understand how different parts of ourselves need to work together. Let’s revisit how this applies specifically to emotion management.
The horse represents your emotions. Powerful, energetic, essential for getting anywhere. Without the horse, the carriage goes nowhere—you’d have knowledge and a body but no motivation, no drive, no passion. The horse provides the energy that moves you through life.
The carriage represents your body. It’s the vehicle that carries you, and it needs maintenance and care. A broken carriage can’t travel well no matter how strong the horse or skilled the driver.
The driver represents your mind and intellect. The driver navigates, makes decisions about direction, reads maps, and plans the route. Without the driver, the horse might run in circles or charge off cliffs.
The key principle: emotions make great motivators but poor decision-makers. The horse is excellent at providing power and responding to immediate threats or opportunities. But the horse can’t read a map, doesn’t know where you’re trying to go long-term, and can’t evaluate whether that rustling in the bushes is actually dangerous or just the wind.
This is why emotion management isn’t about suppressing emotions or trying to eliminate them. You need all three components working together, each doing their proper role. The driver needs to listen to the horse—if the horse is terrified, that’s important information. Maybe there really is danger. But the driver also needs to evaluate: is this fear accurate for the situation? Is the action the horse wants to take (bolt, freeze, fight) actually the best response?
When you practice the techniques in this topic, you’re training the driver to work effectively with the horse. You’re learning the horse’s language, understanding what different behaviors mean, building trust so the horse is willing to listen to the driver’s guidance. You’re also learning to care for the horse properly—recognizing when it needs rest, when it’s been pushed too hard, when it needs reassurance.
Throughout Level 2, we’ll develop skills for all three components. Critical Thinking and Education strengthen the driver’s abilities. Emotion Management (this topic) teaches you to work with the horse. Science helps you understand and maintain the carriage. Communication Skills and Community & Cooperation help your whole system work effectively with other people’s horses, carriages, and drivers. Psychology deepens your understanding of how all three components function and interact. Efficiency helps the entire system work together smoothly without wasting energy.
Learning to work effectively with your emotions improves nearly every area of life. Here are some key domains where emotion management makes a practical difference:
Without emotion management: Maya feels hurt when her partner forgets to text her back. Her hurt triggers anger, and she sends a sharp message: “Nice to know I’m not a priority.” Her partner, confused and defensive, responds coldly. The conflict escalates, and they both end up feeling disconnected and resentful.
With emotion management: Maya notices the hurt and anger arising. She pauses, recognizing that her emotions are responding as if she’s being abandoned—an old program from a past relationship. She considers other explanations: her partner might be in a meeting, their phone might have died, they might be dealing with something stressful. She sends a neutral message: “Hey, hope your day is going okay. Want to catch up tonight?” When they connect later, she can express her feelings calmly: “I noticed I felt worried when I didn’t hear from you. I know that’s my stuff, but it helps when you let me know if you’ll be out of touch.” The conversation builds understanding instead of resentment.
Emotions like anxiety, frustration, and self-doubt can derail performance and learning. When you can recognize these emotions as information rather than truth, you can respond more effectively. Test anxiety becomes “my brain is trying to protect me from failure—but I’m prepared, and I can handle this.” Frustration with a difficult project becomes “this is challenging, which means I’m learning—let me break it down into smaller steps.” Impostor syndrome becomes “my brain is worried I’ll be exposed as incompetent, but that’s not based on evidence—let me look at what I’ve actually accomplished.”
Strong emotions can hijack decision-making, leading to choices you regret later. Anger might push you to quit a job impulsively or send an email you can’t take back. Fear might prevent you from taking worthwhile risks or speaking up when you should. Infatuation might lead you into relationships that aren’t healthy. Emotion management doesn’t mean ignoring these feelings—it means treating them as one source of information among many, then making choices based on your values and long-term goals, not just immediate emotional impulses.
Unmanaged emotions often create secondary problems. You feel anxious, then feel ashamed of being anxious, then feel hopeless about ever feeling better—each layer adding to your distress. Emotion management helps you interrupt these cycles. You can acknowledge anxiety without judging yourself for it, which reduces the shame layer. You can recognize that emotions are temporary states, not permanent conditions, which reduces hopelessness. This doesn’t cure mental health conditions—those often require professional support—but it can significantly reduce suffering and improve coping.
Every barrier you overcome, every new skill you develop, every goal you pursue involves managing uncomfortable emotions. Fear of failure, frustration with slow progress, uncertainty about whether you’re on the right path—these emotions are normal parts of growth, not signs you should stop. When you can recognize and work with these emotions instead of being controlled by them, you become far more capable of sustained effort toward meaningful goals. As we discussed in Level 1, Topic 5 (External Barriers) and Topic 6 (Overcoming Barriers), persistence and adaptability are essential for overcoming obstacles. Emotion management is what makes persistence and adaptability possible.
Here are five foundational techniques you can start using immediately. Each one is simple to learn but becomes more effective with practice. These techniques work together—you might use several in the same situation.
What it is: When you notice yourself having a strong emotional reaction, pause and put a specific label on what you’re feeling.
Why it works: Neuroscience research shows that labeling emotions activates your prefrontal cortex (the thinking, reasoning part of your brain) and reduces activity in your amygdala (the emotional alarm system). The simple act of naming the emotion helps shift you from being overwhelmed by it to observing it.
How to do it: 1. Notice you’re having an emotional reaction (physical sensations, urge to act, shift in thinking) 2. Ask yourself: “What am I feeling right now?” 3. Name it as specifically as possible: not just “bad” but “frustrated,” “disappointed,” “anxious,” “overwhelmed” 4. You can name multiple emotions: “I’m feeling both excited and nervous” 5. Say it to yourself mentally or out loud: “I’m feeling frustrated”
Example: You’re stuck in traffic and notice your jaw clenching and your thoughts racing with irritation. Instead of just stewing, you think: “I’m feeling frustrated and impatient.” That simple act of naming creates a small but important distance between you and the emotion, making it easier to choose your response.
Practice tip: Start by labeling emotions when they’re mild, not waiting until you’re overwhelmed. Build the habit during calm moments so it’s available during intense ones.
What it is: Identify what triggered the emotion and what need or concern it’s trying to address.
Why it works: Emotions don’t appear randomly—they’re responses to triggers, and they’re trying to motivate behavior that addresses some need or threat. Understanding this helps you evaluate whether the emotion’s suggestion is accurate and useful.
How to do it: 1. Notice the emotion (use Name It to Tame It first) 2. Ask: “What just happened before I felt this?” (external trigger: something someone said, a situation, a memory) 3. Ask: “What is this emotion trying to protect or achieve?” (the underlying need or concern) 4. Ask: “Is this emotion’s assessment accurate for this situation?”
Example: You feel a surge of anger when a colleague interrupts you in a meeting. Tracing the trigger: “They interrupted me mid-sentence” (trigger). “My anger is responding as if my status is being threatened, as if I’m being disrespected and need to defend my position” (underlying concern). “Is that accurate? Maybe—or maybe they’re just excited and bad at turn-taking. Is confrontation the best response, or would it be better to calmly finish my point?” Understanding the trigger and the emotion’s purpose gives you options beyond just reacting.
Practice tip: Keep a simple emotion log for a week. When you notice strong emotions, jot down: What happened? What did I feel? What was it trying to protect/achieve? Patterns will emerge.
What it is: Create space between the emotion and your action by deliberately pausing before responding.
Why it works: Emotions create urges to act immediately—that’s their job. But immediate action is often not the best response, especially in modern contexts. A pause gives your prefrontal cortex time to come online and evaluate options.
How to do it: 1. Notice the urge to act (send that text, say that thing, storm out, shut down) 2. Deliberately pause: count to ten, take three deep breaths, excuse yourself for a moment, say “let me think about that” 3. During the pause, use Name It to Tame It and Trace the Trigger 4. Ask: “What are my options here? What response aligns with my values and goals?” 5. Choose your action consciously
Example: Your teenager says something disrespectful, and you feel a flash of anger with the urge to yell. Instead, you take a breath and count to five. In that pause, you recognize: “I’m angry because I feel disrespected, and my instinct is to assert authority through volume. But yelling will just escalate this and damage our relationship. What I actually want is for them to understand why that was hurtful and to treat me with respect.” You respond calmly but firmly: “That tone isn’t okay. Let’s take a break and talk about this when we’re both calmer.”
Practice tip: The pause doesn’t have to be long—even three seconds helps. Physical actions make pausing easier: take a sip of water, look out a window, step outside, stretch.
What it is: Treat emotions as data points that provide useful information, not as commands you must obey.
Why it works: This reframes your relationship with emotions. Instead of “I feel anxious, so I must avoid this situation” (emotion as command), you think “I feel anxious, which tells me my brain perceives some risk here—let me evaluate whether that risk is real and how to handle it” (emotion as information).
How to do it: 1. Notice the emotion and name it 2. Ask: “What is this emotion telling me?” (not “What is this emotion making me do?”) 3. Evaluate the information: “Is this information accurate? Complete? Useful?” 4. Consider other sources of information: facts, past experience, trusted others’ perspectives, your values 5. Make a decision that incorporates the emotional information but isn’t controlled by it
Example: You’re considering applying for a promotion, but you feel afraid. Instead of letting fear decide (“I’m scared, so I won’t apply”), you treat it as information: “My fear is telling me there’s a risk of failure and embarrassment. Is that risk real? Yes—I might not get the promotion. Is it as catastrophic as fear suggests? No—I’d survive and learn from it. Are there other factors to consider? Yes—this role aligns with my long-term goals, I have relevant skills, and not trying guarantees I won’t grow.” You decide to apply, acknowledging the fear but not being controlled by it.
Practice tip: When facing a decision, write down what your emotions are telling you, then write down other relevant information. Seeing it on paper makes it easier to integrate multiple sources of information rather than letting emotion dominate.
What it is: Pay attention to physical sensations in your body to catch emotions early and understand them better.
Why it works: Emotions aren’t just in your head—they involve your whole body. Often, physical sensations appear before you consciously recognize the emotion. Learning to notice these sensations gives you earlier warning and more information about what you’re feeling.
How to do it: 1. Regularly check in with your body: “What am I feeling physically right now?” 2. Notice sensations without judgment: tension, warmth, tightness, butterflies, heaviness, energy, numbness 3. Connect sensations to emotions: “Tight chest and shallow breathing—that’s usually anxiety for me” 4. Use physical sensations as early warning: when you notice your jaw clenching, you can address frustration before it becomes rage 5. Use body-based interventions: change your breathing, relax your shoulders, move around
Example: You’re in a conversation that seems fine on the surface, but you notice your stomach feels tight and your shoulders are creeping up toward your ears. Checking in with your body alerts you: “I’m feeling tense and defensive, even though I’m not consciously aware of why.” This prompts you to examine the conversation more carefully—maybe the other person’s tone is subtly critical, or maybe the topic is touching on something sensitive for you. Either way, the somatic awareness gives you information you’d otherwise miss.
Practice tip: Do brief body scans throughout the day: pause for 30 seconds and mentally scan from head to toe, noticing sensations. This builds the habit of somatic awareness so it’s available when you need it.
These exercises will help you develop and strengthen your emotion management skills. Practice regularly—these are skills that improve with use.
Answer these questions to verify your understanding:
Daily Emotion Journal: For one week, spend 5-10 minutes each evening writing about your emotional experiences that day: - What emotions did you notice? (Name them specifically) - What triggered them? - What were they trying to protect or achieve? - How did you respond? - Looking back, what worked well? What would you do differently?
Pattern Recognition: After a week of journaling, review your entries and look for patterns: - Which emotions do you experience most frequently? - What are your common triggers? - How do you typically respond to different emotions? - Which techniques have you tried? Which were most helpful?
Body Mapping: Draw a simple outline of a human body. For different emotions you commonly experience (anxiety, anger, joy, sadness, frustration), mark where in your body you typically feel them and what the sensations are like. This creates a personal reference guide for somatic awareness.
Name It to Tame It Practice: Set a reminder on your phone for three random times during the day. When it goes off, pause and name whatever emotion you’re experiencing in that moment, even if it’s “calm” or “neutral.” This builds the habit of emotional awareness.
Pause and Choose Practice: Identify one situation where you typically react impulsively (responding to certain texts, reacting to interruptions, eating when stressed). For one week, deliberately practice pausing in that situation before responding. Notice what happens when you create that space.
Emotion as Information Log: Keep a simple log for situations where you’re facing a decision. Write down: What emotions am I feeling? What are they telling me? What other information is relevant? What choice aligns with my values? This builds the skill of integrating emotional information with other factors.
Emotion Check-Ins: With a partner, friend, or small group, practice sharing emotional experiences: - Each person shares: “Today I felt [emotion] when [situation]. I think it was triggered by [trigger] and was trying to [purpose/need].” - Others listen without judgment or advice (unless requested) - Practice naming emotions specifically and tracing triggers together - This normalizes talking about emotions and builds emotional vocabulary
Technique Practice: Work with a partner to practice the five techniques: - Take turns describing a recent emotional situation - The listener helps the speaker apply the techniques: “What were you feeling? What triggered it? What was it trying to protect?” - Practice giving each other feedback: “I noticed you were able to pause before responding—how did that feel?” - Share what techniques work best for each of you
Somatic Awareness Exercise: In pairs or small groups: - One person guides: “Notice your feet on the floor. Notice your breathing. Scan from your head down to your toes. What sensations do you notice?” - Each person shares what they noticed without judgment - Discuss: How does your body feel when you’re calm? Anxious? Excited? Frustrated? - This builds somatic awareness and helps people recognize that physical sensations vary between individuals
Emotion Scenarios: In a small group, discuss hypothetical scenarios and practice applying techniques together: - “You’re about to give a presentation and feel terrified. What techniques might help?” - “A friend cancels plans at the last minute and you feel hurt and angry. How would you handle it?” - “You’re offered an opportunity that excites and scares you. How do you make the decision?” - Discussing scenarios in a group exposes you to different perspectives and approaches
These exercises aren’t just about individual skill-building—they’re also about practicing cooperation and building supportive relationships, which we’ll explore more in Level 2, Topic 7 (Community & Cooperation). When you practice emotion management with others, you: - Normalize talking about emotions, which reduces shame and isolation - Learn from others’ experiences and approaches - Build trust and deeper connections - Create accountability and support for continued practice - Develop skills for helping others with their emotional challenges
Consider forming an ongoing study or practice group where you regularly check in about what you’re learning and how you’re applying these skills. This kind of mutual support makes learning more effective and more sustainable.
Lieberman, M. D., et al. (2007). “Putting Feelings into Words: Affect Labeling Disrupts Amygdala Activity in Response to Affective Stimuli.” Psychological Science, 18(5), 421-428. - Foundational research on “Name It to Tame It” showing that verbally labeling emotions activates the prefrontal cortex and reduces amygdala activity
Burklund, L. J., Creswell, J. D., Irwin, M. R., & Lieberman, M. D. (2014). “The Common and Distinct Neural Bases of Affect Labeling and Reappraisal in Healthy Adults.” Frontiers in Psychology, 5:221. - Demonstrates that affect labeling reduces distress and functions as a form of incidental emotion regulation
Panksepp, J. (1998). Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. Oxford University Press. - Comprehensive examination of how emotions evolved in animals long before humans, with focus on subcortical emotional systems shared across mammals
Ekman, P. (1992). “An Argument for Basic Emotions.” Cognition & Emotion, 6(3-4), 169-200. - Research on universal emotions (fear, sadness, happiness, anger, disgust) and their evolutionary functions
Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2000). “Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions.” In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (2nd ed., pp. 91-115). Guilford Press. - Explains emotions as evolved solutions to adaptive problems in ancestral environments
Gross, J. J. (1998). “The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review.” Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271-299. - Introduces the Process Model of Emotion Regulation with five strategies: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation
Gross, J. J. (2015). “Emotion Regulation: Current Status and Future Prospects.” Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1-26. - Updated overview of emotion regulation research and theory
Cutuli, D. (2014). “Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression Strategies Role in the Emotion Regulation: An Overview on Their Modulatory Effects and Neural Correlates.” Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8:175. - Reviews research showing cognitive reappraisal has healthier outcomes than expressive suppression across affective, cognitive, and social domains
Buhle, J. T., et al. (2014). “Cognitive Reappraisal of Emotion: A Meta-Analysis of Human Neuroimaging Studies.” Cerebral Cortex, 24(11), 2981-2990. - Meta-analysis of neuroimaging research on cognitive reappraisal techniques
Linehan, M. M. (2014). DBT Skills Training Manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. - Comprehensive guide to Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills, including emotion regulation techniques particularly effective for emotional dysregulation
Pollatos, O., et al. (2007). “Interoceptive Awareness Mediates the Relationship Between Anxiety and the Intensity of Unpleasant Feelings.” Biological Psychology, 75(3), 292-296. - Research on how awareness of body sensations relates to emotion regulation
Mehling, W. E., et al. (2012). “The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA).” PLoS ONE, 7(11): e48230. - Develops framework for understanding different dimensions of body awareness and their role in emotional experience
Tart, C. T. (1986). Waking Up: Overcoming the Obstacles to Human Potential. Shambhala Publications. - Source of the horse (emotions), carriage (body), and driver (mind) metaphor, attributed to an Eastern parable via Gurdjieff’s teachings - Explores how balanced development of intellectual, emotional, and physical aspects is necessary for human flourishing
Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. - Accessible explanation of modern emotion science, challenging common myths about emotions
Hanson, R., & Mendius, R. (2009). Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. New Harbinger Publications. - Bridges neuroscience and practical emotion management techniques
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking. - Explores the body-emotion connection and somatic approaches to healing (particularly relevant for understanding how emotions manifest physically)
Neff, K. (2011). Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. William Morrow. - Evidence-based approach to working with difficult emotions through self-compassion rather than self-criticism
Greater Good Science Center (UC Berkeley): https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ - Free articles, videos, and practices based on emotion regulation research
American Psychological Association - Emotion Topic Page: https://www.apa.org/topics/emotion - Accessible summaries of current emotion research
For connections to other topics in this program: - Level 1, Topic 4: Internal Barriers (psychological barriers including emotional blocks) - Level 1, Topic 6: Overcoming Barriers (introduces the horse-carriage-driver framework) - Level 2, Topic 1: Critical Thinking (strengthening the “driver”) - Level 2, Topic 2: Psychology (deeper understanding of how all three components function) - Level 2, Topic 4: Communication Skills (expressing emotions effectively)
Return to the Topic Navigation Page.